A personal and intimate journey into the life and career of one of Hollywood’s last silver screen icons. Influencing the likes of Elvis Presley and James Dean with his rebellious demeanor, iconic hairstyle and good looks, Tony Curtis was regarded as one of the very first teen idols and sex symbols of his time. His passionate drive and charm made him a unique figure that appealed to all ages with memorable roles in such classics as Spartacus, Sweet Smell of Success and Some Like It Hot. In this documentary, Tony Curtis gives an honest and compelling interview, delivering an unprecedented insight into the highs and lows of being a movie star. From his difficult upbringing in the Bronx, he escaped the burden of being born Bernie Schwartz and reinvented himself in Hollywood as Tony Curtis.Watch Trailer Here

Opening Night— the film will be preceded by a panel of Hollywood celebrities and friends of Tony Curtis including Mamie Van Doren, Theresa Russell, Marian Collier, Max Roeg, Jill Curtis and John Gilmore (all in the film), commemorating the movie star and the Golden Age of Hollywood.

A rescue like no other… Animated story of the 1976 hostage rescue in Entebbe, Uganda, narrated in first-person by the first commando to enter the building, through the perspective of his own family’s rescue in the holocaust.

This poignant biography looks at modern-day hero Yonatan Netanyahu, an elite army commando killed in Operation Entebbe and brother of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The film draws on his own prophetic writings that reveal deep-rooted introspection, human frailty and heartfelt passions. The journey comes to a fateful crossroads in July 1976 as Netanyahu leads an audacious raid to rescue Israeli hostages from a hijacked flight at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport. Newly revealed archival materials and surprisingly intimate interviews with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, feature prominently. This film is the collaboration of director Jonathan Gruber (Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray, LAJFF 2011)Best of the Fest, Palm Springs International Film Festival, 2012Watch Trailer Here

• Program introduction by Consul General of Israel, David Siegel• Q & A with Andrew Wainrib and very special high ranking guest from Israel! Moderated by Rob Eshman, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal

With a political career spanning 66 years, Shimon Peres is the current President of Israel and twice prime minister. He was a close associate of Israel’s founder and first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. Seen as a war hawk in his earlier career, he was responsible for arms acquisition at the age of 24, and went on to ensure Israel’s ultimate security by implementing its nuclear program. He later won the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for his work on the Oslo peace accords. A man of many contradictions, Peres’s career has seen him transformed from a hawk to a dove. This film is a glimpse inside the world of the self-confessed workaholic to whom family always comes second to his country and a penetrating look at the burdens of leadership.

Playing with Cohen on the Bridge• Tuesday, May 8, 7:30 pm
AMC Century City, Los AngelesBUY TICKETS NOW!

• Q & A with Andrew Wainrib and Richard Symon, moderated by David Suissa, President of the Jewish Journal

An adventurous meditation on past and present, on two former Konigsbergs – a man and a city that no longer use the name: one a Russian city which was renamed Kaliningrad, another a renowned film director who changed his name to Woody Allen. To commemorate the bizarre connection between these two former Konigsbergs, Masha Vasyukova, a native of the city makes it her mission to put up a statue in Kaliningrad in honor of Woody Allen.

Playing with:Roth on Roth(Philip Roth, sanse complexe)LA PremiereDocumentary/France/52 minutes/2011
Directed by William Karel

In this surprisingly candid documentary, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Philip Roth offers unprecedented access to his prolific career. The often elusive and reclusive author provides expansive insights into his writing methods, reflections on mortality, struggles with depression and often controversial body of work. The scandalous content of such novels as Portnoy’s Complaint and Goodbye, Columbus made Roth a lightning rod for criticism. Roth draws heavily on his life experiences and Jewish upbringing, while insisting, “I don’t write Jewish, I write American. This intimate film is a rare and moving portrait of America’s greatest living writer.

From the Oscar-winning team of “The Artist.” The pride of French intelligence, Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath — code named OSS 117, has a new mission that takes him to the Bossa Nova Brazil of the 1960’s. Teaming up with a sexy Mossad agent, he has to capture a Nazi blackmailer with an embarrassingly long list of World War II French collaborators.Disclaimer: Adult content and language.Watch Trailer Here

Kaddish For a FriendLA PremiereDrama/Germany/94 minutes/2011
Directed by Leo KhasinGerman & Arabic with English Subtitles

Teenager Ali and his family arrive from a refugee camp in Lebanon to Berlin. Desperate to gain acceptance from his new peers, Ali is pressured to break into the apartment of his Russian neighbor, Alexander—an 84 year old Jewish War Veteran. His friends follow him in and vandalize it. Caught and to avoid being deported, Ali’s mother sends him back to repair the damage. As man and boy work side by side, an unexpected friendship grows between them. Inspired by a true events, director Leo Khasin’s debut is a stirring, coming-of-age story that shows just how hard overcoming prejudice can be.Best Feature: Winner of the Washington DC Jewish Film FestivalWatch Trailer Here

• Introduction by Michael Ott, Consul of Culture, Press & Legal Affairs of the Consulate General of Federal Republic of Germany

• Community Partner: Levantine Cultural Center’s New Voices

Beyond the BoundariesLA PremiereDocumentary/Israel & USA/60 minutes/2011
Directed by Yonatan Nir, Produced by Nina Zale English and Hebrew with Subtitles

Four disabled Israeli veteran soldier are participants in the program, Golshim L’Chaim-Ski To Live. They tell their stories from injured to empowered, and are transformed through their one week experience of learning to ski and snowboard in Aspen, CO. Here they overcome adversity and challenge themselves physically. They are able to temporarily forget their limitations and leave with a renewed sense of hope for their futures.Yonatan Nir is the co-director of “Dolphin Boy”. If you loved that, you’ll love this!Watch Trailer Here

• Q & A with director Yonatan Nir and producer Nina Hawn Zale
• Sponsored by the Goldrich Family Foundation• In partnership with the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity• In cooperation with UCLA Hillel and the UCLA Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies

Preceded by:BarriersShort/Israel/22 minutes/2011
Directed by Golan RiseHebrew with English Subtitles

A sneak preview from the Ma’ale Film School in Jerusalem.
Uri, a young officer, together with two soldiers under his command, are manning a checkpoint in the territories. Two women from the “Watch” organization try to interfere with their work. Uri is confused as he receives an order to close the checkpoint because of a bomb threat amidst the women’s screaming. An unpredictable outcome ensues.

Au Fil du Banc(Once Upon a Bench)LA PremiereShort/France/7 minutes/2011
Directed by Alexandra Torterotot French with English Subtitles

Every morning, Evelyne, an older woman, comes to sit on her favorite bench in Paris. However, this particular morning, her ritual is interrupted by Iulian, a young Romanian man, who seeming a bit lost, sits down next to her. The young man confides in her his story and it brings back memories Evelyne had buried long ago, and an unexpected friendship evolves between them.

Followed by:804 US PremiereDocumentary/South Africa/60 minutes/2011
Directed by Etienne Naude

In 1948, immediately following the declaration of independence, Israel was attacked from all sides and was facing the threat of destruction. The Machal volunteers from outside of Israel rushed to the country’s aid from all over the world. Out of 4400 volunteers, 804 were from South Africa. They left their studies, their families and homes to fight for a cause they felt passionate about. Told through interviews of surviving South African Machalniks, this is a unique firsthand account of a widely overlooked group’s essential contribution to Israel’s early survival.

Death in BrooklynUS PremiereDocumentary/Australia/59 minutes/2011
Directed by Tracey Spring

When seven year-old Gavin Cato, a black child, was accidentally run over and killed by an ultra orthodox Jewish driver in Brooklyn in 1991, what followed became one of the most tense moments in US history – the Crown Heights riots. Innocent Australian, Yankel Rosenbaum out walking, was stabbed to death—“an eye for an eye.” These riots came to symbolize the racial and religious tensions between black and white and Jews and gentiles in New York City. In the twentieth anniversary of the riots, this film tells this extraordinary story from the people who lived it.

Jewish-born Adrián (Daniel Hendler) and Catholic-born Leonora (Natalia Oreiro) have finally reached their wedding day. Instead of gracefully embracing matrimony, Adrián spends the hours leading up to the ceremony trying to postpone it, not because he’s got cold feet (or does he?), but because he’s clumsily lost both his and his bride-to-be’s sacred wedding rings. Disaster ensues in director Ariel Winograd’s winning comedy about the politics of the proverbial “Big Day.”Nominated for 4 Argentinean Academy Awards in 2011Watch Trailer Here (in Spanish)

• Saturday, May 5, 8:00 pm
Laemmle’s Town CenterBUY TICKETS NOW!• In cooperation with the Argentina Consulate in Los Angeles

A heart-warming story of the challenges of being different in America. 11 year-old Daud, the son of the Imam of a Brooklyn mosque, has to juggle the expectations of his father (Maz Jobrani) with his own feelings of isolation and his desire to fit in. Through an innocent act of good faith, Daud inadvertently befriends a group of Jewish boys who mistake him for a fellow classmate at their Orthodox school. Unable to resist the joy of a camaraderie that he has never known before, David, as he is known to his new friends, is drawn into a complicated dilemma inspired by the best of intentions.Winner: Ecumenical Prize 2011 Montreal World Film Festival and Best Feature San Luis Obispo Film FestivalWatch Trailer Here
• Sunday, May 6, 10:00 am
Laemmle’s PlayhouseBUY TICKETS NOW!
• Sunday, May 6, 5:00 pm
Laemmle’s Town CenterBUY TICKETS NOW!

• Q&A with Executive Producer Stephanie Levy

• Sponsored by CSUN Jewish Studies Program

A Night of Kosher Film, Photography and MusicPresented by ATID & American Friends of Tel Aviv University

The entire community is welcome to join us for an evening of “Jewish Culture” with a filmmaking workshop, food, music, Jewish-themed photography and short films made by emerging artists and filmmakers in their 20 s & 30s.

• Q&A with Hollywood Producer & Executive Mike Medavoy

• Filmmaking Workshop with Director/Producer Dan Katzir

• Sunday, May 6,
5:15 pm – Film Making Workshop;
6:00pm – exhibit with wine & cheese and live music
6:45 pm – film screenings followed by Q & A
Sinai TempleBUY TICKETS!

In the vein of movies such as Bridget Jones Diary and My Big Fat Greek Wedding comes a romantic comedy about twenty-seven year old Jewish accountant, Deb Dorfman (Sara Rue), a lovable doormat, who lives with her funny yet depressed, widowed dad, Burt, (Elliott Gould). In an attempt to win the heart of her unrequited love interest, she offers to cat-sit in his new loft. Deb is suddenly uprooted from the comfort of the suburban San Fernando Valley and gets caught up in the whirlwind of a newly revitalized downtown L.A. In the course of one week, Deb is transformed in ways she never thought possible.Watch Trailer Here

Wunderkinder LA Premiere
Drama/Germany /100 minutes/2011
Written by Stephen Glantz, Directed by Marcus Rosemuller
Produced by Artur Brauner and Alice Brauner German with English Subtitles

From the producers of Europa Europa comes the powerful story of two Jewish children Larissa and Abrascha,who are both virtuosos—one on the piano and the other on the violin. Hanna, a young German girl, is also extremely gifted. Living in the small Ukrainian town of Poltava in 1941, they are united by a passion for music. When the Nazis invade, the children’s Jewish and German families must save each other from the forces of both fascism and Communism. Real-life musicians Elin Kolev and Mathilda Adamik, give endearing performances in this rare and mesmerizing Holocaust drama told from a child’s point of view.Watch Trailer Here(in German)

• Sponsored by the Goethe Institut Los Angeles• In cooperation with the Anti-Defamation League, Remember Us and the Righteous Conversations Project, Child Survivors of the Holocaust/LA and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

RemembranceLA PremiereDrama/Germany/105 minutes/2011
Directed by Anna Justice German, Polish and English with English Subtitles

In this epic romance spanning three decades, a Polish partisan and German Jewish woman fall in love in the dark shadows of the Holocaust. After a daring escape from a Nazi death camp, Tomasz and Hannah are forcibly separated in the chaos of war, each convinced the other has died. The events of 1944 Poland are crosscut with 1976 Brooklyn, where an older Hannah, now married—glimpses a television interview and believes it is Tomasz. The realization that her lost love may still be alive triggers a spiral of emotions and moral ambiguities as Hannah must now confront her unresolved past. Based on actual events, by award-winning director Anna Justice (Max Minsky and Me, LAJFF 2008).Winner, Audience Award, Berlin and Beyond Film Festival, 2011Watch Trailer Here
• Sunday, May 6, 3:00 pm
Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly HillsBUY TICKETS NOW!

Silent film with live performance by Gerhard Gruber, piano accompanist
With introduction by Penelope Ann Miller, star of the Oscar-winner “The Artist”
1230 BC-the Israelites are in slavery in Egypt. At this difficult time the Jewish slave-girl Merapi falls in love with Prince Seti, son of the Pharaoh Menapta. This love leads to numerous problems. At the end of the film Moses leads his people through the Red Sea and into freedom. Shooting took place in Vienna with 5,000 extras, and at the time it was one of the most elaborate and expensive epic film ever made.

Screen’s Greatest Spectacle! (1924 print ad for U.S. release of “Moon of Israel”)

•Sponsored by the Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles and Temple of the Arts•In partnership with Yiddishkayt

DomainUS PremiereShort/USA/12 minutes/2012
Directed by Jimmy Nabi

At the end of World War 2, a German soldier finds a young Jewish girl hiding in an abandoned home. They both have serious choices to make about their future.

Followed by:SHOAH: The Unseen InterviewsLA Premiere
New release of lost footage!Documentary/France & Israel/60 minutes/1985
Directed by Claude Lanzmann

More than 25 years later, Claude Lanzmann’s monumental film SHOAH (1985) is still considered one of the most important documentaries ever made. More than nine hours long it features more than 70 individual interviews, yet a wealth of fascinating material was not included in its final cut. This program presents a rare opportunity to see for the first time, the powerful, unused footage from three interviews filmed for Lanzmann’s landmark documentary—Abraham Bomba, who was a barber in Treblinka; Peter Bergson, who struggled to publicize Nazi crimes against the Jews; and the deeply affecting Ruth Elias. Raye Farr and Michael Berenbaum were instrumental in acquiring Lanzmann’s interviews for the US Holocaust Museum.

•Q & A with Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum of AJU and Raye Farr, director of the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum

The RescuersLA PremiereDocumentary/USA/94 minutes/2011
Directed by Michael King

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Michael King presents this powerful film that follows Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist who lost 100 members of her family in the Rwandan Genocide. Traveling across 15 countries and three continents, Nyombayire and Sir Martin Gilbert, renowned British Holocaust historian, interview survivors and descendants of 13 courageous Non-Jewish diplomats who saved tens of thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps. Nyombayire and Gilbert explore the past in a quest to understand what should be done to stop the ongoing massacres in Darfur and elsewhere.Best Documentary, Palm Beach and Beloit International Film Festivals.Watch Trailer Here

• Panel discussion with Director Michael King and guests from AJWS, JWW and the Shoah Foundation

• Sponsored by the American Jewish World Service and Jewish World Watch• Community Partner: USC Shoah Foundation Institute

Through the Eye of the Needle—The Art of Esther Nisenthal KrinitzLA PremiereShort/USA/30 minutes/2011
Directed by Nina Shapiro-Perl

At 15, Esther Nisenthal defied Nazi orders, separating from her family as they reported to a nearby train station. She and her sister survived the war by inventing new identities and hiding in plain sight of the Gestapo, but they never saw their family again. Haunted by memories, she felt compelled to tell her story and turned to needle and thread, ultimately creating thirty-six large and exquisitely detailed works of fabric collage and embroidery–a legacy borne of love, loss, and the sheer force of memory.

Set against the backdrop of the second Lebanon war in the summer of 2006, the film portrays the perseverance of a remarkable group of musicians – master artists and students – who continue teaching and practicing violin in spite of the ongoing conflict. The artists struggle to keep worry at bay and to maintain sanity through music. The film is a rare document portraying aspects of Israeli life seldom seen in the media, in which the violin becomes a symbol of abiding Jewish-Israeli resilience.
• Tuesday, May 8, 7:30 pm
Temple Emanuel of Beverly HillsBUY TICKETS NOW! • Q&A with Dan Katzir & Ravit Markus

In honor of the 75th anniversary of the BJE, LAJFF will showcase a diverse range of student films that represents the burgeoning talent of the future generation of filmmakers from throughout Southern California.